Delayed splash was worth it for Eagles in free agency

Addition of three proven defensive players on Thursday gives Eagles chance to be competitive right away.

March 14, 2013|Nick Fierro

PHILADELPHIA — — If you want to say Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman went 0-for-5 on the opening day of NFL free agency on Tuesday, you also have to give him credit for going 3-for-3 on Thursday.

That's when the struggling general manager, whose team is 22-26 with no playoff victories since he was promoted from vice president of player personnel, followed up an initial underwhelming flurry of activity with an encouraging haul for his almost completely rebuilt defense.

Adding safety Kenny Phillips, cornerback Cary Williams and pass-rushing linebacker Connor Barwin certainly helped alleviate any anxiety that may have been generated two days earlier, when he did the opposite of shocking the world by reaching out for five mid- to low-level free agents.

The Eagles will have a fighting chance now in head coach Chip Kelly's first ever season away from amateur football.

Williams and Phillips add necessary toughness to a secondary that was softer than Charmin, and Barwin adds energy to a defense that teetered under coordinator Juan Castillo for 22 games before collapsing spectacularly and then quitting under Todd Bowles last year.

That ultimately led to the dismissal of defensive tackles Mike Patterson, Cullen Jenkins and Derek Landri, defensive end Darryl Tapp, linebacker Akeem Jordan, cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and all but two of the assistants on former coach Andy Reid's staff.

At the very least, the defense will hit harder this season.

And here's the best part: They still have a heaping pile of money left over after clearing more than $40 million in salary cap space before this whole process started, thanks to state-of-the-art management. Certainly there's enough to comfortably pursue, say, one of the top offensive tackles still on the market, such as Andre Smith, Sebastian Vollmer, Jake Long and Eric Winston.

That would enable them to take Todd Herremans and cover the hole that exists at right guard. Herremans, the current right tackle, is one of three offensive linemen coming off season-ending injuries and could help catapult that unit from the league's worst to one of the best.

At the very least, the Eagles on Thursday positioned themselves much better for next month's draft, which they never want to use to address immediate needs.

"When you go into the draft room and you look at the depth chart [of Eagles] and you see all these players on there, it's exciting because you don't have to. There's no `have to' in the draft," Roseman said. "So as much as you say you want to take the best available player, I've been around long enough to say that, but it's hard when you see a gaping hole on the depth chart.

"So I think that's one of the things that was enticing about this. We like the players we brought in here. At the same time, we can go into the draft and go in any direction."

But going into Thursday, Roseman had some difficult questions to answer.

For example, a day after they could have signed Dashon Goldson, they presented safety Patrick Chung instead.

They also introduced cornerback Bradley Fletcher when they could have had Sean Smith or Brent Grimes or Aqib Talib; and they were proud to introduce nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, ranked 82nd of 85 defensive tackles last season by Pro Football Focus, instead of Terrance Knighton or a number of others better than someone who "doesn't eat up blocks, get off them or get up field," according to PFF. "He's just a body."

That body on Wednesday promised the Eagles would "shock the world" this year.

They at least have a better chance after Thursday's transactions, which added hope and maybe a little clarity to what they did two days earlier.

"We talked about the kind of guys that we wanted to bring in here," Roseman said, "and ... these guys come from winning programs, football is very important to them. When you watch them on tape you see a very physical aspect of their play, so that's exciting for us.

"In an ideal world, do you want to sign this many free agents? No, you don't. And we didn't come into free agency necessarily [looking] to do this, but I think it was an opportunity to add guys who can come here and compete and play the right way and play with a high motor."

Just as importantly, they've distributed their money in such a way where they have a much better chance of never having to pay someone $4 million just to jog away, like they did with Asomugha on Tuesday.

The backgrounds of these new players also can never be overstated, especially for a team that never learned how to win after being overhauled with exciting but flawed new faces two seasons ago.

Asomugha had never played for a winner. Still hasn't. Defensive end Jason Babin came from a Tennessee team that completely fell apart. Plus, he was only concerned with his own stats anyway. Rodgers-Cromartie came from an Arizona Cardinals team that won five games the year before.

This year, Kenny Phillips and Williams come with Super Bowl rings; Chung comes from the New England Patriots; Barwin comes from another top AFC team and bona fide Super Bowl contender; and Sopoaga comes from the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.